Defining good roleplay

[Phased]

2 minutes ago, Smilesville said:

Perhaps it's just my unpopular opinion, but emoting when nobody else around is silly.

 

If a trucker doesn't emote every time he reaches a stop that has no people, that doesn't change the fact that they're contributing to the immersion by the virtue of existing as a trucker. People see them drive by. If they're so inclined, they can find and interact with them. They're part of the world and provide a realistic backdrop for others (unless they're violating every traffic law known to man, but we can deal with those issues as they arise.)

 

There's more to roleplay than the text you push out.

 

I know people will use this to assume I'm some sort of ls-rp mallrat and denounce what I've said, but I could not agree more.

 

It's a lot more than the /me's you're pushing out, it's everything about your character, and doing 3 line /me's for nobody but yourself to see, unless it's for a screenshot is redundant.    A simple quick /me unloads the truck should suffice there.

[Smilesville]

1 minute ago, Syke said:

A simple quick /me unloads the truck should suffice there.

Or no emote at all. They can literally see you unloading the truck, and there's an /ame that displays over your head, if I'm not mistaken. Why is flowery text necessary when there are really only so many ways to describe unloading a truck and, again, you are all by your lonesome?

 

I wouldn't call the server standard harmful, but it's certainly not helpful.

Edited January 27, 2021 by Smilesville

[Phased]

1 minute ago, Smilesville said:

Or no emote at all. They can literally see you unloading the truck, and there's an /ame that displays over your head, if I'm not mistaken. Why is flowery text necessary when there are really only so many ways to describe unloading a truck and, again, you are all by your lonesome?

 

I wouldn't call the server standard harmful, but it's certainly not helpful.

Personally, even alone I prefer to still emote when I'm alone, but making it mandatory isn't helping anything you're absolutely right.

[Juicebox.]

What I've always personally done is kept my /me's clear and to the point and I detail them here and there when it's needed. Roleplay isn't about the longest /me line ever seen, those aren't the only way to create a solid character. It's about how you portray your character. 

 

No shots at anyone but lets say I see a guy who gave me 3 lines of /me and his character is unique and against the norm of what I've seen quite frequently on the server, I'd enjoy my time with him than the 1 other character who's 6'5 230 pounds, chiseled physique, looks like young Brad Pitt, owns a couple businesses, the nicest of JDM's, can disassemble a gun in .25 seconds and put it apart in .2 seconds... you get the idea. I think people think good RP is throwing out paragraph /me's but then some people have super unrealistic characters. I'd rather see somebody do something different than that.

 

As for trucker job, I fully understand having players roleplay around other players. But by themselves? I never understood this part. If nobody is around you shouldn't have to throw out roleplay lines especially if it literally doesn't add anything else to your character. Me opening the trunk of the van is an /ame automatically, why should I have to write a couple to open the trunk on top of that? I haven't seen much character development around opening trunks all day, personally. BTW I don't do trucker so please don't think I'm wanting things changed for my own benefit, I like to roleplay a lot more than some script job for a couple hours.

[Leviticus]

/me sends a signal from his neocortex anterior to the motor somatosensory–cortex border, it travels at lightning fast speed through his central nervous system and relays a message to his tar-stained lungs. The lungs begin to inflate as he sucks in oxygen. His lungs are filled with oxygen, his body soaks in the oxygen and sends it throughout his body via his bloodstream. 


movie style /me's in the streets
literature style /me's in the sheets >:)

 

[Apa]

1 - /me unloads the truck.

2 - /me grabs his clipboard and checks the order. He walks to the back of the truck and opens the doors. 
/me bends his knees and wraps his arms around the crate. He lifts it and carries it to the store, nodding to the imaginary cashier as the box disappears into thin air. 
/me heads back to the truck and wipes his brow before grabbing another crate. He proceeds back to the store to hoist it into the void portal alongside the former. 

Is there anything added to the scene in option 2 whatsoever? No. It's not better roleplay. It's unnecessary, forced, zombified roleplay. It's not there to improve the scene, its there to negate script abuse - which could be tackled in a number of other ways. I understand making people walk each box to and from the truck, asking people to park more realistically instead of backing the rig through the front doors of 24/7 to lace off a few quick /sellcrates. But NOTHING is gained from forcing the /me's apart from watching the last ounces of spirit leave a truck driver's soul. 

/me's do not = good roleplay. 

[Phased]

2 minutes ago, Juicebox. said:

No shots at anyone but lets say I see a guy who gave me 3 lines of /me and his character is unique and against the norm of what I've seen quite frequently on the server, I'd enjoy my time with him than the 1 other character who's 6'5 230 pounds, chiseled physique, looks like young Brad Pitt, owns a couple businesses, the nicest of JDM's, can disassemble a gun in .25 seconds and put it apart in .2 seconds... you get the idea. I think people think good RP is throwing out paragraph /me's but then some people have super unrealistic characters. I'd rather see somebody do something different than that.

 

This part here is definitely a more sophisticated way of putting forward what I'm trying to say about the length and detail in an emote not meaning it's better RP.

 

My primary issue around all of this is for mechanics - we're forcing them into corners to spam out a barrel full of text for maybe one person tops to see, when they could be engaging in conversation with all these new people around them.      I can also 100% see why this affects truckers too.  

 

We need to guide the entire community away from this weird requirement of "putting more effort into /me's" and into putting more effort into developing a character.  I can guarantee that me, and plenty others can provide a much more meaningful experience for others in roleplay without a single /me just talking, and the balance between that and roleplaying the actions your character is doing to a point where others get the gist of what you are doing is where we need to be for this to be fun.

[Selena]

RP is different for everyone, we all have different styles, some hitting 250 character max, some hitting 50 character max. What should matter is if you're enjoying it. If not? Remove yourself from the situation, or scene. If you cannot do that just RP as you would.

 

I find that RP is subjective, you cannot universally define what is good and what is bad because at the end of the day we all started from somewhere like: /me picks up the box. 

 

As I mention below, RP is also very experimental, sometimes people are trying different styles and finding as wirbel said the happy medium. I wouldn't put a line on what's good and what's not good because it's just like humour, some people find X humour good and others don't. 

 

TLDR; you should be comfortable with the RP you're doing and not pushing yourself to go out of your comfort zone, however, the option will always be there if people want to experiment.

[Phased]

3 minutes ago, Selena said:

RP is different for everyone, we all have different styles, some hitting 250 character max, some hitting 50 character max. What should matter is if you're enjoying it. If not? Remove yourself from the situation, or scene. If you cannot do that just RP as you would.

 

I find that RP is subjective, you cannot universally define what is good and what is bad because at the end of the day we all started from somewhere like: /me picks up the box. 

 

As I mention below, RP is also very experimental, sometimes people are trying different styles and finding as wirbel said the happy medium. I wouldn't put a line on what's good and what's not good because it's just like humour, some people find X humour good and others don't. 

 

TLDR; you should be comfortable with the RP you're doing and not pushing yourself to go out of your comfort zone, however, the option will always be there if people want to experiment.

Then why do we have truckers getting told off for doing two /me's to load a truck, or mechanics under the impression they will lose their garages if they don't type long enough /me's?   Every impression given by server staff in game is longer is better, and it's needed to "not abuse" the scriptwise job.

[Ted]

Look at whatever the admins prop up as good and then go to the opposite, that's probably good rp.